Stampede Starting up in cold weather

[brycekunkel]

Started up the 590 in extreme cold today (12º F, but when the wife wants smoked chicken, who can say no?) and it made an awful noise until it warmed up a bit and produced just a ton of smoke. Wondering if I hadn't had left the lid open if I would have experienced an exploding smoker incident. When the pellets actually light, you can tell immediately and all the smoke clears. Anyone have experience like this? I'm fearful to leave the lid closed when there's this much smoke being produced on startup.

https://video.nest.com/clip/af3d0e240c6e421785e0c13bbddc746c.mp4

 

[sdynak]

Lots of posts lately on this. It is possible the cold contributes to it. The right conditions need to occur for an explosion not just smoke but when it looks like that, not sure I would run more tests to find out . Pellets (type, overload, etc.), temperature, moisture all can play a part as well as ignitor position.

All you can really do is either leave the lid open when starting to be sure that won't happen or contact Recteq and see what they say. Based on others, I understand they still recommend the lid closed. I suspect this is due to the fact if it is left open the controller would just ramp full speed to try & get to temp and if it doesn't might go into a shutdown. I believe it is 20 minutes if it does not reach 175 it will shut down if someone is not babysitting it but then again.. you might want it to.

Just my assumptions why they recommend it closed as it doesn't seem to make sense otherwise. I just can't logically think for a better reason.

Hopefully you & the bride enjoyed your chicken otherwise.

 

[JGW]

I always start the grill with the lid opened.

I think RT makes good grills, but I also think they (like many others) copied the Traeger design. Each brand add their own tweaks, but I'm not convinced that RT has any actual grill experts on the payroll.

I say this because the shut down procedure is poorly thought out. Most other grills use a 10 to 15 minute shutdown to ensure the fire is out. RT uses a 5 minute shutdown AND feeds more pellets into the fire pit. Unnecessary, and IMHO, dangerous.

 

[Greg Jones]

Lots of posts lately on this. It is possible the cold contributes to it…

I sometimes wonder if recteq has good experience with ‘cold’ and their grills. Low temp in Augusta/Evans today was about 60 degrees! Most of us (even here in SE Kentucky) are still experiencing more winter-like temps. Perhaps they truly don’t have experience with how they behave in colder climates with sub-freezing temps for months and months?

 

[sdynak]

I sometimes wonder if recteq has good experience with ‘cold’ and their grills. Low temp in Augusta/Evans today was about 60 degrees! Most of us (even here in SE Kentucky) are still experiencing more winter-like temps. Perhaps they truly don’t have experience with how they behave in colder climates with sub-freezing temps for months and months?

I'm thinking the same.. seems most of the posts are happening during cold temps.. here in NJ we hit over 70 today!

Maybe you are on to something .. They should send me a BFG & 1250 to run some tests while the cold sticks around for a bit longer. Today was a gift.

 

[chadinsc]

that thing sounded like logging onto the internet in 1995. your security camera is excellent also.

 

[IPlayWithMeat]

that thing sounded like logging onto the internet in 1995. your security camera is excellent also.

I laughed so hard when I read this! I kept expecting to hear “You’ve Got Mail” at the end.

Anyway, I don’t have a 590, but I have a 700 that I’ve tortured in subzero weather, and I’ve never heard that noise before. I am quite familiar with the “death plume,” though. But it’s sporadic, and although I haven’t entirely figured out what makes the difference, I haven’t noticed a difference with cold temps .

 

[Roaniecowpony]

We're incredibly cold (for socal) this morning. We're in the mid 40s. I had 2 jackets on to take the dog out for a pee this morning before sunrise. I'm going to wait til it warms up to attempt bbq today. Or maybe next week, when it's supposed to get back to "normal" 70s.

On the cloud at startup....

 

[Gonefishin]

I'd be more concerned with the noise it makes and less with the smoke. Try it again and see what happens, if you get a noise repeat send the vid to RT. My 340 has not made noise like that and I cook down in the teens at least a few times a winter.

I've had the heavy smoke a few times that I can't tie to the temp, just too much fuel for whatever reason, no harm done here with the lid closed but do what's comfortable to you. FWIW, I have not had the heavy smoke deal since I replaced and correctly adjusted the igniter, but it's only been 6 months.

 

[pungo]

Started mine in the teens many times with the lid closed and never had an a problem, though others have had excessive smoke after startup, don't think it was weather related, some blew the lid open

 

[JGW]

That has to be the auger scraping on the inside of the feed tube, or perhaps the fan blades hitting something.

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

That sounds like the fan motor. Auger motor shouldn't run continous. I'd pull the fan motor and oil up the shaft bushings. Could be the fan running slow and not producing enough draft causing all the smoke.

 

[mtross21]

Started up the 590 in extreme cold today (12º F, but when the wife wants smoked chicken, who can say no?) and it made an awful noise until it warmed up a bit and produced just a ton of smoke. Wondering if I hadn't had left the lid open if I would have experienced an exploding smoker incident. When the pellets actually light, you can tell immediately and all the smoke clears. Anyone have experience like this? I'm fearful to leave the lid closed when there's this much smoke being produced on startup.

https://video.nest.com/clip/af3d0e240c6e421785e0c13bbddc746c.mp4

I live in MN and just got a 590 in December. I noticed this twice during warm up in temps near or below zero. I have since started it with the lid up just in case. It produced enough smoke at startup to make you think something is wrong and yes during the cold the auger makes a lot of noise you won’t hear when the temps go up.

 

[sbare4597]

I had the same problem with my RT680 and am now starting to hear it in cold weather from my 1250. Remove the screws from the fan cover, spray the fan shaft with good quality oil and the problem is solved. It is only a problem in colder weather. RT told me how to fix the problem a couple years ago.

 

[oldcrowews]

The sound the grill is making sounds like a bad bearing in either the fan or the auger. I had my 700 smoke like that and I found the the fire pot was full of pellets so I turned if off and scooped out the fire pot and then restarted and ever since the grill started up fine. I am wondering if leaving the top opened the grill feeds more and more pellets the get the temp up and the pellets just don't light correctly. The time mine smoked like that I set the temp to 400 to cook chicken and when I relit the grill I set it for max smoke. Since then I have always started the grill on max smoke the lowest setting and have not had that problem again.

 

[Shooter]

I have the RT-1250 and always start on smoke and adjust from there. Never have heavy smoke like that for more than a minute or so.

 

[Aegixx]

I've only owned mine in cold weather and I get this every time i start it up if I don't clean the pot.

 

[Aegixx]

Heard back from custy service... looks like your cold weather theory may be partly true! Hoping this app update fixes it for me, and hope this helps some of you!

Hey Adam,

Thank you for reaching out and welcome to the recteq family. We do apologize you have experienced a couple of lid pops. I know those can catch you by surprise. Yesterday we updated the version on the controller and that will solve your problem. If your app did not automatically update, go to the app store and make sure you get it updated. We have seen this situation with the new 590s and 1250s during colder weather and we have been able to solve this situation with the app update!

Once you update the app, go ahead and clean the fire pot and start it up like you normally would with the lid closed.

We can also double check to make sure your igniter is not recessed or a delayed start up. I can give you a quick test over the phone to check this to make sure everything is in order. What would be a good time to give you a phone call when you can be by the grill?

Best,
Austin

 

[JGW]

I’m not sure how good of an idea it is to “update the app” to fix this since many do not use that craptastic waste of of coding keystrokes.

Let’s note the issue occurs wether you use the app or not.

 

[sdynak]

So what if you start the unit through the controller only and you don't use the app?

This doesn't make sense but they are the experts..